MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
It’s the biggest game of the season for the Baltimore Ravens. A shot at first place is on the line for them and a chance to clinch the AFC North is riding for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It will be a 4:30 game in front of the home folks, and before another national television audience.
In other words, if recent history stays an indicator, by 8 o’clock Saturday night, the Ravens will have shot themselves in the foot once again, and the barstools in downtown Baltimore will be occupied by angry people dressed in purple.
I don’t believe the Ravens will beat the Steelers again until they actually do. Heck, they should have won the last game in Pittsburgh when their defense turned in their best performance of the year in not allowing the Steelers a touchdown. Yet somehow, as has been their habit, they ended up losing the game, 18-16.
To recap, Justin Tucker missed two field goals within 50 yards, Diontae Johnson, the former Steeler who was a Ravens trade-deadline acquisition and is now no longer on the active roster, dropped a touchdown pass. Justice Hill allowed a strip-interception that looked like a reception that led to a Pittsburgh field goal, and Derrick Henry and Isaiah Likely fumbled deep in their own territory to give the Steelers two more field goals.
Oh, and Henry, the leading rusher in the NFL at the time, had zero fourth-quarter touches.
The Steelers have the Ravens’ number, winning eight of the last nine. The Ravens are out-coached, out-played and out-disciplined in these games. Penalties, turnovers, missed field goals and confusion on the final 2-point conversion on which Henry was not even on the field are merely routine for the Baltimore Ravens in games against Pittsburgh and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Ravens were a 6 to 6.5-point favorite as of Thursday afternoon, which is funny because they’re always the favorite in these games. Yes, it feels as though the Ravens are long overdue, but in games of this magnitude, costly Ravens blunders feel imminent.
“I’ve been here for three games (against the Steelers) and we’ve turned it over eight times,” said offensive coordinator Todd Monken. “We’ve fumbled it seven times. If that doesn’t tell you it’s a priority, I don’t know what is.”
Interestingly, quarterback Lamar Jackson will be starting against the Steelers for the first time in Baltimore in front of a full crowd. The only other time he was the starter against the Steelers at home was in 2020 when very few fans were allowed into the stadium because of COVID. For the other games in which the Steelers were in Baltimore, Jackson was either injured or didn’t play because the Ravens had clinched the division title.
Overall, Jackson is 1-4 against the Steelers as a starter, the lone victory coming in 2019 in Pittsburgh, and while he wasn’t horrible in the last game in Pittsburgh (the interception was not his fault), he wasn’t exceptional, yet few quarterbacks are against the Steelers.
Still, for the Ravens to win on Saturday, the game will have to go through Jackson, which is understandable, for as long as he’s on the field he has to be accounted for, and the Steelers are certainly going to account for him.
Former Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen went crazy against his former team the last time, and it would be reasonable to feel he’s going to be jacked up on Saturday playing in front of the Baltimore crowd that used to love him. And while it’s not his fault the Ravens had little or no interest in re-signing him, Baltimore fans do not wax nostalgic when former Ravens return as Steelers.
As for Steelers All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt, he’s dealing with an ankle injury but has returned to practice on a limited basis, so there’s no reason not to expect to see him out there. He’s third in the league in sacks with 11.5 and has 17 in 15 career games against the Ravens, as well as four forced fumbles.
The Steelers have always done a great job in pressuring Jackson, which helps explain his having his lowest career quarterback rating against Pittsburgh. The Steelers try to force turnovers and they’re good at it, and while Baltimore did a decent job of running the ball against the blitz, turnovers and penalties, as usual, were their undoing.
Clearly, the offensive line is going to have to protect, but that’s no easy thing against Pittsburgh. The lingering sense of doom in these games of recent vintage is the Ravens’ constant penalties and turning the ball over. Even though the Ravens are the better team.
Sure, it might seem the Ravens are due to win this game, but believing will have to come with the seeing. It just feels as though the Steelers are too deep into the Ravens’ collective head. Saturday would be the perfect time to get them the hell out.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT